Tiny Tiger
by ohmistertiger
Summary: While chasing a NEXT Kotetsu is turned into a tiny version of himself with cat ears and a tail. Barnaby finds the whole situation hilarious and adorable.
1. Adventures Before Bed

"Get back here!" Kotetsu sprinted clumsily in his suit after his hundred power had run out. The perpetrator hopped onto a small building below and laughed, she appeared to be a girl in her teens with striped stalkings and a loli-getup. Her bright pink mini skirt made Kotetsu cringe hoping that in a few years Kaede wouldn't wear such a thing. Apparently the girl was a NEXT who, along with an accomplice Barnaby was chasing, had robbed several banks in the downtown area in the past week.

"Catch me if you can grandpa!"

"What...grand-WHAT? You little-!" He shot a wire at one of her ankles—it wrapped around it quickly and she tripped landing on her face with a thump. Kotetsu ran over and stopped in his tracks when he noticed her skirt had flipped over her bottom revealing her polka dotted underwear.

"EEEK. You pervert! Let me go!"

"No one told you to wear that!"

"Pervert! Pervert!"

"I AM NOT A PERVERT! NOW PULL YOUR SKIRT DOWN!"

She did as she was told and rolled over to sit on her bottom; she stared up at Kotetsu who approached her slowly and heaved a sigh when he flipped open his helmet.

"Shouldn't you be at school? What are you doing robbing banks at your age?"

"Are you going to arrest me or what?"

Kotetsu scratched his beard and looked around, "Tell me, you're working with someone right? Are they the same age as you? Older? Is someone forcing you to do this?"

"Of course not! We just wanted the money, now if you aren't going to arrest me let me go_, please_?" She smiled and brought her hands up to chin. Kotetsu shook his head and walked closer, the girl turned her hand around and a blue aura surrounded her. That's right, he wasn't sure what kind of power she had but it was too late to think abut it now because she had shot some kind of blue light right at his face; he jumped back startled. Kotetsu blinked a few times and patted himself down…he seemed fine. He frowned when he heard her giggling.

"What's so funny? What'd you do to me?" He looked at his hands and arms but it was hard to tell what happens to your body when it's covered in armor.

"Take off your helmet."

"What?"

"If you wanna know take off your helmet." She grinned from ear to ear. He raised an eyebrow but figured the girl was practically harmless with her foot still bound to his wire so he slowly lifted off the helmet.

"Um, I don't-" Something twitched on his head; he stood upright and reached for the top of his head and rubbed it. And he could feel his hand…on….an ear? _Ears?_ His eyes widened when he caught sight of himself on the reflection of his gauntlet. On top of his head were cat-like ears, orange with black tips, like a tiger.

"WHAT, WHATS GOING ON?"

"Guess what you should have a tail too! Pwahaha!"

Kotetsu panicked and spun around, damning himself for not being able to see if it was true or not, and right now wasn't the time to strip himself of his entire suit.

"I have the ability to give people animal characteristics. Pretty cool huh? Now you really are a Tiger." She started going into hysterics and rolled onto the floor clutching her stomach.

"Yo-you…Turn me back right now!" Kotetsu screeched as he cupped his two fluffy ears. He just realized his human one's were missing.

"I will if you let me go."

"What? No I can't—"

"Then too bad mister _Tiger_, you're staying that way." She said sticking her tongue out.

"Kotetsu, he's coming your way!" Kotetsu turned around and looked toward a building about a block down, Barnaby was hopping toward them in pursuit of the other perpetrator, a boy who appeared to be in his late teens dressed in a dark hoodie and blue sunglasses. The boy landed next to Kotetsu and threw a dagger at the wire cutting it. The girl scrambled to her feet, Kotetsu immediately lunged at her.

"HEY, GET BACK HERE AND TURN ME BA—" And then the world flashed white for a split second and he fell on the ground. "Huh?" He got up halfway on his knees and looked up… the hooded man hand his hand out toward him and he and the girl were huge, building sized. They both towered over him giving off the most wicked of smirks. And now he could hear his partner yelling something as he approached. The two criminals quickly dashed off and the girl turned her head slightly to look down at the tiny Tiger and blew a condescending kiss. Oh no. _Oh no_….Kotetsu just stood there dumbfounded. He was not tiny…he was not staring up at his partner who was now twenty times taller than him. He wasn't.

"K-Kotet….su?" Barnaby knelt down and stared at his partner in his miniature suit, which now looked like a toy, except his partner, was in that toy and it was his armor.

"Bunny…I—" And then he heard a stifled laugh from the blonde. "THIS ISN'T FUNNY!"

T&B T&B T&B T&B T&B T&B T&B T&B T&B T&B T&B T&B T&B T&B T&B

"This. Is. **Ridiculous**." Kotetsu grumbled as he threw his helmet halfway across Barnaby's computer stand.

"You know Saito can't fix something like this. We're going to have to find those two criminals to change you back." Barnaby said sitting down in the chair. "It's a little upsetting that none of us could track down two kids."

"Don't talk to me about upsetting. DO YOU SEE ME? DO YOU SEE _**THIS**_?" Kotetsu said flailing his arms and pointing to his ears. Then the brunette remembered something and quickly stripped himself of the rest of his armor, struggling a bit with the weight of it. Barnaby watched in amusement as the tiny tiger piled the metal parts on his stand, a rope like bulge was stuffed on the backside of his under suit.

"NO! NOO! IS THIS A TAIL? TELL ME THIS ISN'T…**DAMMIT**! WHY?" Kotetsu screamed in horror as he pulled an orange tail out of his pants, he fell to his knees and made a series of frustrated grunts and groans. Barnaby had to turn away, he brought a hand up to cover his mouth but clearly he wasn't doing a very good job of concealing his laughter. "Bunny, this isn't funny."

"But-it is-you have…" Barnaby had to stop to gasp for air. "You're like a pocket sized tiger! Honestly you have the worst luck!"

Kotetsu sat up and looked at Barnaby, he wasn't quite sure if he'd ever seen the blonde laugh like this before and it was well, a little nice to see. He couldn't help but smile to himself too; okay maybe this whole situation was a little funny-if it was temporary that is. He sighed and took the top part of his under suit off.

"You don't happen to have any clothes my size do you?" Kotetsu asked trying to pull down his pants a little to let his tail out. "This is really uncomfortable…" His tail swayed a bit, it was weird getting used to a new body part.

"I can go down to a toy store and get you a doll set—"

"No…I think I'll just walk around naked, thank you."

"You'll get cold that way." Barnaby said getting up.

"It's better than me staying in this thing, it's tight, I'm sweaty, and I wanna be comfortable!" Kotetsu said slipping out of his pants, he threw it in a heap with his other clothing. "I feel free!"

Barnaby sighed and rubbed between his eyes. "Kotetsu, you can't walk around naked in my apartment."

"Why not? He said with his hands on his hips twirling his tail around behind him. "We shower together at work, does it matter?"

"I…guess not. I'll just get you a shoe box or something to sleep in, I think I have one in the closet."

"Can I take a bath first?"

"Fine, let me fill up the bathtub first…wait. I guess I have to carry you there huh?" He leaned over and offered his hand to Kotetsu who hopped up and sat down on Barnaby's palm. The old man was pretty cute like this, he was about as tall as a water bottle when standing and fit perfectly well in the blonde's hand. Barnaby's bathroom was quite large, it had a circular tub large enough for two full sized people, a mirror for a wall, and stone tiled walls. He set Kotetsu down next to the shampoo as he filled up the tub with warm water. Kotetsu walked around looking at what kinds of things Barnaby kept in the bathroom. There was a curler several feet away by the sink with enough hair products to last over a year on the shelf.

"Do you want a bubble bath?" Barnaby asked reaching over to grab a pink bottle.

"Bubble bath? You still take those?"

"Simple luxuries, Kotetsu." Barnaby said squirting its contents into the running water anyway.

"I used to give Kaede bubble baths when she was a toddler." He laughed hopping into the tub.

"H-Hey! It's not done filling yet!"

Kotetsu floated on his back and swam around a mound of bubbles forming. "Oooh this is like a giant flower pool, haha!" He sunk under it and popped back up, with suds in his hair and giggled. Barnaby sighed and stripped himself of his clothes idly. When he had everything off but his briefs he stepped in the tub making sure not to crush Kotetsu in the process, but a small wave pushed Kotetsu under when Barnaby had settled in making the blonde panic momentarily before Kotetsu rose up between his legs.

"Okay, I'm kinda tired." Kotetsu said treading in place. Barnaby brought his right knee up from the water letting his partner paddled over to rest on it. "Thanks, Bunny."

"Mmhmm." He leaned over to grab a bottle of rose scented shampoo and lathered it over his blonde locks. Kotetsu watched with extreme interest in the way the Barnaby's curls stuck to his face and in spiraled in different directions. His ears pricked up and down as he stared and his tail whipped from side to side, Barnaby's hands slowed when he noticed his partner watching him.

"Yes?"

"Huh? Oh sorry…I was just looking at your hair. It's kinda funny to see it when it's not all perfect you know?" He lay on his stomach and splashed around some water with his hands. Barnaby found it a little odd that his partner didn't mind having his butt in the air with his tail swinging around like it did. When they had gotten out of the bath Barnaby set Kotetsu down by the sink and began blow-drying his hair, he'd given his partner a small face towel to wipe himself down with…which Kotetsu was using to roll around in instead. The blonde grabbed his partner by the tail and aimed the dryer at him blowing his hair and body at full force.

"B-Bunny stoooop!" The wind made his lips flap and he waved back and forth under Barnaby's grasp.

"We can't have you getting sick when you're like this. There's no doctor for miniature NEXTs."

When he finally turned the blow dryer off Kotetsu was a puffy haired mess, he fell down onto the counter face first and groaned. The blonde slipped into his PJS, a long sleeved black top and red pants. He slipped a hand under Kotetsu and hoisted him up and proceeded into the kitchen where he laid Kotetsu on the table. The older hero sat and dangled his feet off the counter as he watched Barnaby rummage through the fridge, he took out a six-pack of beer and laid it next Kotetsu who immediately hopped up and hugged one of the cans.

"OH! Bunny, you're a genius! If I'm this small a can like this can last forever!"

"You're not drinking that whole thing by yourself, I'm sharing one with you, and you're only getting a little bit of it. " He said reaching for an empty water bottle next to the sink, he unscrewed the lid and rinsed it.

"Hey, hey, can I bathe in this? I've always wanted to be in a pool of beer."

"Who on earth thinks of such a thing?" Barnaby said pulling Kotetsu off the can with some resistance.

"Me~"

"Honestly…You just took a bath." He placed Kotetsu on his shoulder where the brunette rolled onto his stomach and firmly grasped his shirt. "See this?" He said holding the cap in front of Kotetsu's nose. "You only get three of these, no more."

"Whaaat?"

"You heard me." Barnaby opened one of the cans and let a few drops fall onto Kotetsu's new dish. "At your size even this is a lot."

"Bunny, why do you have to be such a hardass?" He said snatching the cap away from Barnaby, he sat up lifted the bowl to his lips and immediately downed the whole thing.

"Because you never take care of yourself."

"That's not true!"

"Hmm." The two entered the living room again where Barnaby sat on his chair; Kotetsu got up and crawled down the blonde's arm, his tail swishing around as he did so. Barnaby's thighs were pretty warm so he settled there, the two watched reruns of Hero TV for an hour before Kotetsu started getting antsy. He got up and waltzed around the room for awhile. The carpet was awfully springy when you were less than a foot tall, the steps proved formidable when hopping over them. He even pondered the idea of how much hundred power would do him at this size. After exploring what little there was in the blonde's living room Kotetsu returned to the stand beside Barnaby who ignored him for the most part after he had turned on his laptop; he was rather focused on his stocks at the moment, which were starting to drop. The blonde pondered the idea of selling them, just when he was about to make a decision he heard the sound of an aluminum can hitting the floor and jumped up to peer behind his laptop. Kotetsu was lying on his back with drool leaking from his mouth. Barnaby cursed and picked up the can from the floor, it was empty.

"**KOTETSU**!"

"Whuuuuuaaaaaaaat~"

"I told you not to drink anymore!"

"But-you didnnn finishhh." Kotetsu hiccupped. He sat up and blurrily looked at his partner and gave a guilty chuckle. "Hehe."

"If you start throwing up on my furniture I swear—"

"Dun worry lil'Bunny I can hold my drinks verrrrry well~" Kotetsu slurred, he slumped over and wagged his tail slowly, his ears drooped a little as he tried to focus his vision.

"I'm throwing you in a cage tomorrow."

"Thas not very nice." Kotetsu said getting up, he zigzagged his way to the end of the table, stumbling a few times before reaching the ledge where he leapt onto Barnaby's lap and toppled over onto his crotch.

"H-hey!" Barnaby yelped grabbing Kotetsu by the tail; he placed him on his palm where Kotetsu curled himself against the base of Barnaby's thumb. His tail wrapped around his partners middle finger and he began to nod off. "…Kotetsu?" Barnaby brought his partner closer to his face, the older heroes eyelids were slowly closing and he felt warm against Barnaby's hand. He mumbled something and stuffed his cheek into the crease of Barnaby's hand. "I guess it's time for bed then." Barnaby always had two pillows on his bed and figured today he could let his partner sleep on one of them. Kotetsu sank into the feathered filled cushion and curled into the fetal position, like this he looked a lot like a tiny kitten and Barnaby couldn't help sticking his hand out to stroke his partners head. He managed to rub one of Kotetsu's ears the right way causing the man to moan a bit. Barnaby did it again and this time Kotetsu turned his ear harder against the pad of Barnaby's finger.

"Nnghh—feels good." He twirled his tail against Barnaby's wrist.

"Here?" Barnaby asked rubbing two fingers harder against the latter's scalp.

"Uh-huh….o-ohhh…no wonder animals love being scratched there..feels so good." Kotetsu craned his neck a little and whimpered. His tail curled around Barnaby's index finger and he shivered. "Bunny~~ do it harder…nnghh…" All of the sudden Barnaby felt his face flush; he threw his hand back. Kotetsu looked up at him confused and pricked his ears up. "Bunny?"

"G-Go to sleep now." He took off his glasses and laid them on the nightstand and slipped into the bed turning away from Kotetsu.


	2. Bad Breakfast

"Mmmngh…" Barnaby swatted at whatever was touching his face. He stuffed his head deeper into the pillow but an irritating poke threatened his cheek once more. He felt the thing touch his face approximately every eight seconds. After the tenth poke he rolled over face down, after several moments whatever was bothering him started tugging at his hair. The blonde abruptly sat up and pounded his hand down onto Kotetsu, squishing him into the mattress.

"Ah-ah, Bunny, I can't breathe!" Kotetsu yelped feeling the weight of Barnaby's hand on him.

"You're annoying." Barnaby slowly released his grip and blearily reached for his glasses. Kotetsu sat rubbing his left ear a bit, and pouted "But it's already eleven and I was getting bored." The blonde glanced at the clock; it was rather unusual for him to sleep in past ten. He groaned and kneaded his face with his hands; it felt like he hadn't slept for ages, he could hear Kotetsu chuckling.

"Yes?"

"Your hair."

Barnaby did always have a case of bed head when waking up, half of his locks would stick to his scalp while other's flipped in a series of different directions. After hearing his partner laugh he reached up and poked a finger at Kotetsu's forehead causing him to topple backward.

"Hey!"

"Are you hungry?" Barnaby asked as he slipped out of bed.

"Uh huh. I walked around for a bit before you woke up…I can't open the fridge though." He said pouting.

"Alright then." Barnaby picked up his partner up by the tail causing the brunette to furrow his brows. "I'll make some sausage and eggs, you want toast too?"

"I guess." Kotetsu didn't like being help upside down, although the view was pretty interesting when you were this small but the strain on his tail made his butt hurt. They entered the kitchen where Kotetsu was roughly dropped onto the counter, he swore and rubbed his bottom.

"Bunny~ can't you be a bit more gentle with me? I'm an old cat ya know?" He whined. Barnaby smirked to himself and pulled the meat and eggs from the fridge placing them next to Kotetsu. It occurred to the older hero that he was about the size of one of the eggs when rolled into the fetal position. At this thought he sighed.

"Ugh…I want to be normal again." He lifted one of the eggs (they were awfully heavy) and waddled toward a bowl the blonde had set down. Barnaby gently took it away from Kotetsu and cracked it, noticing a weird sort of expression on his partner's face. He eyed his partner in silence from the corner of his vision and brought pan out of a bottom drawer turning the knobs on the stove. Kotetsu watched Barnaby cook their breakfast without so much as a peep-the only sound was the tap of his tail flopping back and forth against the counter. After several minutes he heard a pop and noticed the toast was ready.

"Hey." Kotetsu spoke suddenly as he climbed up on a cup to reach for the toast.

"Hm?"  
>"I'm not bothering you am I?" He struggled lifting the thing on to the plates.<p>

"What do you mean?"

"I can't really do anything at this size…and you have to take care of me." He lathered some butter onto the bread. A difficult task considering the knife weighed about as much as him. "I was pretty careless wasn't I?"

"You were." Barnaby agreed as he scrambled some eggs. "But you're not a bother, don't worry about such things."

"Bunny..." Kotetsu perked his ears up and looked up at his partner who smiled.

"We're partner's right? We have take care of each other." He slid some of the sausage into the pan; they fell in with a chaotic sizzle. Kotetsu ripped a piece of toast, the crumb large in his hands. He pushed the cup by the stove and crawled up to sit by Barnaby.

"You know…you still haven't made me fried rice." He said nibbling on the bread.

"Oh—that's right. Maybe we can have that for dinner."

"You mean I have to stay like this for another day?" He said waving his free hand, at the same time his ears drooped. Barnaby smirked at the way Kotetsu resembled a tiny kitten.

"Agnes hasn't contacted us about those NEXT yet. Right now they're investi—"

"What? Bunny, I can't stay like this forever!" He yelled in almost a panicked voice.

"Calm down, I'm sure we'll find them."

"But-what if Kaede calls? How am I supposed to tell her that I—" Suddenly a large pop was heard, some oil crackled on the pan and splattered through the air hitting Kotetsu's right arm and shoulder. He fell backwards onto the counter and screamed -cringing in pain as the burning sensation raged into his body.

"Kotetsu!" Barnaby quickly turned off the stove and threw the pan to the side, he placed his hands on either side of Kotetsu on the counter-hesitant to pick the man up as he whimpered...Barnaby thought it better to treat the arm first so he ran some cold water and opened the freezer to grab an ice cube.

"Can you move your arm?"

"A-ah.." Kotetsu huffed and moved it, wincing at the pain. "N-not really…oooh…it really hurts…" He muttered, tears lining his eyes from the burning. He pressed his hand against it- The pain was just as bad as when he was shot by Lunatic.

Barnaby took a bowl and filled it with the cool water.

"Try putting your arm in here." He placed the bowl next to Kotetsu, he dipped it in slowly. "Ah…owww…ow.." He bit his lip, and moaned as he submerged his whole arm.

"Are you okay…I should've known t his would happen..." Barnaby hunched over to look at Kotetsu.

"I'm fine…just wasn't expecting that…ha…at least it hit my arm and not you know?" He pointed to the general direction of his lower half with his other hand.

"This is why I told you to wear some clothes."

"I wasn't expecting to get hit with hot oil ya know!" He said trying to move his shoulder a little. "O-ow.."

"Here." Barnaby placed the cube into the water. "Rest your arm on that for a bit…wait, let's move you over here." He picked Kotetsu and the bowl up to place on the opposite counter. The brunette's ears had sagged and his tail was tucked between his legs as he let his arm rest on the floating cube. Barnaby left the kitchen momentarily and returned with a tube of ointment, he squirted a bit on his finger and smeared the smelly substance onto Kotetsu's skin, which was now red and puffy. The brunette mewled- the burning sensation was terrible and the overwhelming smell the ointment gave off was enough to give him a headache. Barnaby reluctantly returned to finish cooking the rest of the meal; all the while taking glances at Kotetsu who looked pitiful with his ears and tail flattened against his body. Barnaby slid the food onto a pink ceramic plate and pulled a chair up next to Kotetsu who eyed the food silently—The blonde started cutting a sausage into tiny pieces moving them over to the side of his plate along with bits of egg. He picked up a small piece and held it in front of Kotetsu who said nothing and opened his mouth with an 'ah', Barnaby found it strange that the old man didn't even protest to getting fed-he took a bite of the meat and chewed slowly. Barnaby sighed in relief and fed himself; it seemed as though Kotetsu was feeling slightly better-his tail was swaying back and forth at least. The next few minutes were spent with them eating in silence, Barnaby would alternate between feeding Kotetsu and himself until their shared meal was done. At the last bite Kotetsu nibbled a bit at his partner's finger and even licked it-Barnaby's face flushed. He wasn't sure his partner was aware of what he was doing, or if this transformation caused him to in some ways to behave like a cat. Whatever the case Barnaby quickly pulled his hand away (Much to Kotetsu's protesting cries) and cleared the table. He could feel the brunette's eyes following him as he washed the plate and pan. He nervously cleared his throat and fidgeted.

"I wonder what's taking Agnes so long to call." He placed the dishes on the rack and turned around to find Kotetsu rubbing his arm. "Stop touching it."

"Ugghhh!" Kotetsu withdrew is hand and thumped his tail. "It still burns."

"Come." Barnaby place his hand beside Kotetsu. "We'll go watch TV in the living room."

"I'd rather go find the brats who made me this way!" He said grudgingly as he crawled onto Barnaby's palm.

"I told you already we can't do anything until we know where they are. It's not like you can chase them like you are now." He seated them in the lone chair in the living room and turned on the news. Kotetsu was lying on Barnaby's thigh sprawled out on his stomach; he looked a little sleepy because his head had been dropping down every so often. Barnaby's brought his hand up slowly to stroke Kotetsu's head. The old man was too cute like this-looking like a little kitten. The touch was welcome and Kotetsu twitched his head against Barnaby's hand and…purred? The blonde smiled and scratched behind his partner's ear a little more noticing that doing so made the others tail twist and turn.

"Ooh…Barnaby…right there."

"Here?"

"Uhhh-huh."Kotetsu mewled. He rolled over onto his back and swished his tails between his legs. Barnaby's hand slowed when he remembered that Kotetsu was naked, he couldn't keep his eyes away from that spot between the latter's legs.

"Bunny, why'd you stoooop?"

"S-sorry!" Barnaby corrected himself and started scratching ferociously at Kotetsu's head making him twitch his leg. He drew up his knee and moaned some more—Barnaby wouldn't be able to keep this up with Kotetsu making the noises he did. _Wait, why am I blushing?_ Barnaby thought, suddenly he felt extremely self- conscious….hopefully Agnes would call soon.


End file.
